Rustic Country Loaf

FABULOUS! We loved this bread (and probably ate way too much of it with dinner tonight)! The only slight change to the recipe was that I needed to add a bit more water to the dough to get it to the right consistency to knead (maybe about 1/4 C). This produces a crusty exterior and a dense, hearty interior. We absolutely loved this rustic loaf of bread. Worth the effort and wait!

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This is a great recipe! I received a bread machine about a year ago, and haven't done much bread baking since. This was fairly easy for me.I'm not a whiz bread baker. Mine didn't come out quite so pretty as all of the pics I see, but it still tastes fantastic, and I made it with my vey own hands! Thanks for a great recipe! I will definately make this again!

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I followed this to a tee only I used 3 teaspoon of yeast, this is a slightly different bread/method than I am used to making but it turned out great and makes a lovely bread to serve with soup or stew, I will make again, thanks for sharing Lori, this was made for KK's Chef's Pick game

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Made this For Kittencals Tag Game. I made this exactly as you said in the recipe, except due to the altitude did add an extra 1/3 cup water, and wound up losing track of time so it baked a bit longer than you called for, Still made a nice crusty full bodied bread, best eaten with soups, or stews. Ohhhh yes I will be making this again, thank you for this recipe.

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I make all our own breads all the time. I followed your measuring instructions exactly. I used my bosche for mixing/kneading as I lack the hand strength any more. The family devoured what I put out with dinner. lol Thanks for sharing! Made for the September 2009 Aussie/NZ recipe swap.

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I did this using 1.5c water, 1t sugar, and gave it two rises (prob. 1hour each). It came out very nice.

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I cook a lot of bread by hand. This recipe is okay but the loaf is small. I did not have to add any water and I did not find the dough sticky- I used Bob's Red Mill organic wheat flours (white unbleached and whole wheat). It took hours to rise, though- I don't know why. A plus was the whole wheat ratio- just enough to put the taste in it.

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This turned out to be an amazing bread... like others stated i also added an additional 1/4c of water.

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This was my first time doing a bread without a bread machine. I knead it for about 10 minutes like PanNan. I like the texture. I'm glad of my first bread but it was hard on the wrist LOL Thanks Lauralie :) Made for Zaar Star Game.

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I made this with my stand mixer and dough hook attatchment. The kneading only took about a minute and a half with the dough hook. Very easy and quick to put together. It's cold here so it took a while to rise. I ended up putting the dough in my laundry closet while I had the dryer going. (covered with plastic wrap, of course!) It rose great after that and cooked up wonderfully! Great recipe for a beginner bread maker! Thanks for sharing.

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We thought this was okay. Specifically, I didn't care for it at all, DH was neutral (wouldn't cry if he never had it again but doesn't hate it, was his description), and DS ate it like he eats all bread--voraciously. It didn't seem very flavorful to me (and I don't think it was due to the flour--fresh bags of King Arthur flours), and despite the very small amount of sugar in it, the bread was strangely sweet. The dough had a tendency to be both stiff and sticky--it's the first time I've ever had bread dough stick to my nonstick bread machine pan (and boy, did it stick!). I don't think we'll be making this again. Thanks for posting, anyway, Lauralie--sorry it didn't work out for us!

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Very good, very rustic!!! Just as stated!!! I made the dough in the bread machine and then baked it off in the oven. Lovely!

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YUMMY! I too made the dough in my bread maker then baked it in the oven. Came out a little lopsided, but that didn't affect the taste. Wonderful texture too! Ate most of this just plain with butter but used some as cubes for fondue. Held up really well to the hot cheese. Thanks!

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Great Lauralie! Something a little different but so so simple, lovely texture. I prepared the dough in the breadmaker and baked the loaf free form in the oven. The only thing I regret is not spraying the loaf to give a nice crust, but I'll do that next time. I served it with a spinach dip and it went really well! Also great with sweet or savoury for breakfast. Cheers!

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After reading the other reviews I added a little extra water (1 1/2 cups instead of 1 1/3) and cheated anyway; I mixed this on the dough cycle of my bread machine. I think I should have had a little more faith - everything came together just fine and the dough was pretty sticky when I pulled it out; it probably would have been fine with just 1 1/3 cups water. At any rate it came out great. Dense but it rose nicely. My whole family liked both the taste and the texture. Thanks for sharing.

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I too needed to add aditional water, but had no trouble with the dough. I made it in my stand mixer and it came together beautifully. After the first rise, the punching down and the 30 more minutes, I divided the dough in two--froze half and formed the other half into a ball. I baked it at 425° and after about 30 minutes I had a lovely little loaf--like a boule. It sliced beautifully, a great crumb and crust--I was very happy with this bread. thanks, Lori!

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I had no problems getting the bread to rise, but also added more water to be able to knead it. I decided to knead by hand (something I haven't done for a long time), and it took about 8 - 10 minutes of kneading until it was "elastic" enough. I did score the bread (to allow the steam to escape), and spritzed with water (to get a crispy crust) before putting on a baking stone in the oven. The high temperature worked just fine for me. I used a digital probe thermometer (poked through one of the scores to the center of the bread) and when it reached 190F degrees, I removed it. At that point the exterior was perfectly brown. It took about 35 minutes. This is a heavy, dense loaf - I think a Polish rustic loaf is supposed to be that way. For my own taste preference, I might try adding a little oil to the recipe next time, to add some moisture. Overall a very nice recipe. It produced a beautiful rustic loaf.

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Lauralie I had no problems with this recipe. I did add almost 1/4 cup water extra but other than that I found the dough great to work with. I think the second rising really adds great texture to this bread. I used a bench mixer for the mixing (I'm too lazy to knead) and found that five minutes mixing on slow/medium speed was plenty. I loved the addition of the flour on top of the loaf...it really makes the bread look old-fashioned. Thanks for a lovely loaf that is easy to make and tastes great!!!

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I'm sorry, but this one didn't work out well for me. I tried it out two ways. The first, as posted, by hand. I had to add an additional 1/4 cup water to get it anywhere near kneading texture; it didn't raise very well, and when it baked I had a much over-done crust with an underdone inside. I have since checked other bread recipes and 425° appears to be much to warm, and the amount of water given is usually for around 3 1/2 cups flour (also calling for 2 TBS oil, and possible even an egg added). I tried this again using my bread machine, with edible results. I purposely bought new yeast (though what I already had had worked fine for another loaf earlier in the week). Again, I had to add 1/4 cup water, but it did raise and bake better in the bread machine. Not a bad flavor at all. Sorry, but thanks for posting.

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